US2969567A

US2969567A - Cope close-up mechanism

Info

Publication number: US2969567A
Application number: US726664A
Authority: US
Inventors: Burton C Ferris; Mcdonald E Pond
Original assignee: Kelsey Hayes Co
Current assignee: Kelsey Hayes Co
Priority date: 1958-04-07
Filing date: 1958-04-07
Publication date: 1961-01-31
Anticipated expiration: 1978-01-31

Description

Jan. 31, 1961 B. c. FERRIS ETAL 2,969,567

COPE CLOSE-UP MECHANISM Filed April 7, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet .2

INVENTORY BURTON C. FA'RR/S A ri-oa/v-rs Unie COPE CLOSE-UP lVmCHANISM Filed Apr. 7, 1958, Ser. No. 726,664

8 Claims. (Cl. 22- 31) This invention relates generally to transfer mechanism and refers more particularly to mechanism for transferring a cope flask section to a drag flask section and positioning it on the latter.

The invention has for one of its objects to provide transfer mechanism which is of a relatively simple construction yet highly eflicient in operation.

The invention has for another of its objects to provide mechanism for transferring a cope flask section to a drag [flask section supported on a moving conveyor and placing it in assembled relation upon the drag flask section during movement of the conveyor.

The invention has for still another object to provide transfer mechanism with a cutter adapted to form a pouring cup in the molded sand of the cope flask, the operation of the cutter being controlled by the movement of the transfer mechanism.

The invention has for a further object to provide transfer mechanism for depositing the cope on a moving drag having means engageable with the drag for moving the mechanism with the drag while the cope is being deposited thereon.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of mechanism embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the mechanism, looking in the direction of the arrow 2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

r Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the air cylinders for operating the mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a wiring diagram.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, 10 designates the frame structure for supporting the transfer mechanism. The frame structure includes a pair of horizontal, laterally spaced tracks 12 and 14 which are I-shaped in cross-section. A bridge 16 is supported for movement from side to side along the length of the .tracks, and has wheels 18 and 19 at opposite sides rolling on the top flanges of the tracks. As seen particularly in Fig. l, the track12 has a V-shaped runner 20 along the top surface. The wheels 19 have a peripheral groove engaging the runner to guide the bridge. The bridge is in the form of an open frame having longitudinal members 22 connected adjacent their ends by the parallel members 24 and 26 which serve as tracks for the rack 28 and extend at right angles to the tracks 12 and 14. Brackets 30 are carried by members 22 of the bridge connected to rods 32 which are carried by pistons 34 the flange.

Patented Jan. 31, 1961 reciprocable in air cylinders 36 mounted on tracks 12 and 14 respectively.

The rack 28 has

wheels

38 and 40 at opposite sides rolling on the track members 24 and 26 of the bridge. Track 24 has a V-shaped runner 42 on its top surface, and the wheels 38 have peripheral grooves engaging the runner to guide the rack. The rack is in the form of an open frame having longitudinal members 44 connected at their ends by the transverse members 46. The bridge has a pair of brackets 48 at the rear pivoted to rods 50 which are carried by pistons 52 reciprocable in air cylinders 54 respectively mounted on the frame members 44 of the rack by brackets 56 with the cylinder axes extending in the direction of movement of the rack.

The open frame construction of the rack 28 provides a rectangular opening 58, and angle guides 60 are secured to the

frame members

44 and 46 of the rack within the opening at the corners thereof and extend vertically above the rack and downwardly below the bridge. Roller bearings 62 are carried by the guides 60 to provide a relatively frictionless vertical movement of the lift 64 carried by the rack.

The lift 64 comprises a rectangular frame 66 and angle members 68 extending vertically upwardly from the frame thereof and engaging the roller bearings 62. The lift 64 is suspended from the rack by a rotary air hoist or motor 70 which is pivoted at the upper end by a pin 72 to a bracket 73 carried by frame 74 at the upper ends of the angle guides 60. A cable 75 depends from the hoist having a hook 76 at the lower end engaged in an opening in bracket 77 carried by the cross frame members 78 of the lift. The cross frame members are secured to the border frame 66 of the lift. The rotary air hoist is manually controlled by an operator to raise and lower the cable 75 and correspondingly move the lift relative to the rack.

A pair of opposed clamps 82 are keyed to horizontal shafts 84 respectively rotatably supported on brackets 85 at the opposite sides of the lift. The clamps pivot about their midpoints on the shafts in vertical planes. The lower ends of the clamps have inwardly directed lugs 86 forming shoulders 88 for engaging under the top flange 90 of a cope flask 92 at the opposite sides there- 'of. The clamps are rotated about their pivots by air A second pair of opposed clamps 102 respectively spaced from the first pair are keyed to the shafts 84 and swing as a unit therewith. The lower end of each clamp 102 is likewise formed with an inwardly directed lug forming a shoulder engageable under the cope flange 90 in the inner position of the lower end of the associated clamp 82 and adapted to clear the flange 90 in the outer position of the lower end of the associated clamp 82. The air cylinders 94 are actuated simultaneously so that the clamps on one side of the lift move in unison with those on the other side. The clamps 102 are exactly like clamps 82 except that the upward extension above the pivot shaft 84 is omitted.

The transfer mechanism is adapted to transfer cope flask sections 92 from a roll-off rack 101 formed by rollers 103 and stop 104 to a drag flask section 106 supported on a moving conveyor 108. The roll-off rack 101 is associated with a molding machine (not shown) for molding and packing the sand 110 in the cope. The cope with the molded and packed sand is then transferred a suitable source of pressure.

from themolding machine to the roll-elf rack 101 where it remains to be picked up by the transfer mechanism. The transfer mechanism then picks up the cope from the :rolkoifirack and transfers it'to and deposits it-on .a drag 106 likewise containing molded-and packed sand to closeup the moldflask sections. The conveyor is disposed beneath the bridge and moves in a direction parallel to .the tracks 12 and 14 supporting the bridge, and a plurality of :drags .106 are supported in spaced relation on the conveyor.

Briefly, the rack28is movable from a rearward limitingposition overtheroll-oif rack, as shown in Fig. l, to a forward limiting position over the conveyor 108. The limits of forwardand rearward movement of the rack are determined :by the stroke of the pistons in the rack cylinders 54. in the rearward limiting position of the rack, the lift 64 is lowered to engage a cope on the roll-off rack. The cope is then raised by the lift and the rack moves to its forward limiting position whereupon the lift is again lowered to, support the cope in the dotted line position of Fig. 21in which it is slightly above the top surface of drags moved along in succession by the conveyor. The conveyor moves in the direction of the 'arrow in Fig. 2.

The lift frame 66 has a pair of fingers 115 secured thereto and depending from the front and rear edges adjacent one side thereof, and a second pair of fingers 115 secured to the frame and depending from the front and rear edges thereof adjacent the other side of the lift. These fingers straddle opposite sides of the cope held by the lift and are laterally spaced a distance slightly greater than the width of a drag so that a drag moved along by the conveyor will pass freely between the fingers 115 in the lower or dottedline position of the lift shown in Fig. 2. The lower ends of the fingers are flared to enable the fingers to pass freely over the cope at the roll-off rack during downward movement of the lift. The lift also has a pair of laterally spaced fingers 117 secured to and depending from the frame 66 on a side connecting the front and rear, likewise flared at the bottom for the same purpose. These fingers, when the lift is in the :dotted line position of Fig. 2 over the conveyor, provide abutments engageable by a drag on the conveyor for moving the lift, rack and bridge as a unit with the drag while the cope is being placed thereon.

The lift is provided with means for forming a pouring cup in the molded sand of the cope. The cutter is gen- "orally cone shaped and indicated at 120. The cutter is secured to a vertical shaft 122 which is rotated by an air motor 124 secured to a vertically movable plate 126 by yoke 127. The plate 126 is raised and lowered by the piston 128 ('Fig. 4) of a vertically disposed air cylinder 130, being connected to the piston by a rod 132. The cylinder is secured to bracket 77 of the lift, and the plate 126 is guided for vertical movement by a rod 134 secured at its ends to the bracket 77. The central vertical section of the rod is slidably received in a hole in plate 126 which is on the opposite side of the yoke 127 from the connection with rod 132.

Fig. 6 illustrates the air system for operating the bridge, rack, clamps and pouring cup cutter. Air under pressure is supplied to the system by a

pipe 140frorn Lines

142 and 144 lead from pipe 140 to the rod ends of the bridge cylinders 36 through a valve 146 controlled by solenoid 148. Valve 146 is spring loaded to a position normally venting line 144 to exhaust 150 and plugging line 142, but when solenoid 148 is energized, it operates to shift the valve to a

position connecting lines

142 and 144 to admit air under pressure to the cylinders. The head ends of the cylinders are open to the exhaust line 152.

'A line 154 leads to 4-way valve 156 which is connected to the rod ends of rack cylinders 54 by line 158 .zandto vthe.,.head. ends of cylinders 54 by line 160. The

valve is shifted to one position by solenoid 162 to con- 4- nect lines 154 and to admit air under pressure to the head ends of the cylinders and to connect line 158 to exhaust 164, and is shifted to a second position by solenoid 166 to connect

lines

154 and 158 to admit air under pressure to the rod ends of cylinders 54 and to connect line 160 to exhaust.

A line 168 leads to 4-way valve 170 which is connected to the rod ends of clamp cylinders '94 by line 172 and to the head ends by line 174. The valve is shifted to one position by solenoid 176 to connect

lines

168 and 172 to admit air under pressure to the rod ends of the cylinders and to connect line 174 to exhaust 178, and is shifted to a second position by solenoid 180 to connect

lines

168 and 174 to admit air under pressure to the head end of cylinders 94 and to exhaust line 172.

A line 182 leads to a valve 184 which is connected to the head end of cylinder 130 by line 186 and to the rod end by line 188. Normally the valve 184 is positioned, by spring loading, to connect

lines

182 and 188 to the rod end of the cylinder, and to exhaust head end through line 186 and exhaust 190. When the piston of cylinder 130 is raised by air under pressure at the rod endthereof, the cutter 120 is raised to a position above the packed sand in a cope supported by the lift. A solenoid 192 is provided which, when energized, shifts the valve 184 to a position exhausting line 188 and admitting air under pressure to line 186 to lower the cutter to the Fig. 4 position in which itenters the sprue passage in the sand. The air motor 124 for driving the cutter is also connected to line 186 so that the cutter is rotated when in the down position to form the pouring cup. The limits of movement of the cutter are determined by the stroke of piston 128.

The operation of the transfer mechanism will now be described in more detail along with a description of the wiring diagram and associated limit switches. The raising and lowering of the lift 64 is accomplished by the rotary air hoist 70 which is manually controlled by the operator. When the rack 28 is in the Fig. 1 position at its rearward limit over the roll-off rack, the operator will, by manual control, operate the hoist 70 to lower the lift from the Fig. 1 position. As the lift moves down, the flange 200 on one of the angle members 68 thereof engages and momentarily closes limit switch LS1 closing a circuit to the clamp solenoid 180 to operate the clamp cylinders 94, causing the lower ends of the clamps to move inwardly under the top flange of the cope 92 on the roll-off rack. A circuit to relay R1 is also closed, and relay R1 has a contact R10 for sealing in both the relay and solenoid 180 through circuit 202.

After the cope is securely gripped by the clamps, the operator manually operates the air hoist to raise the lift. When the lift reaches its upper limit, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the flange 200 of the lift frame engages limit switch LS2 holding it closed and energizing solenoid 162 to move the rack to its forward limiting position over the conveyor. The circuit to solenoid 162 is through the contact Rib of relay R1.

In the forward position of the rack, the operator manually operates the hoist 70 to low the lift to approximately the dotted line position of Fig. 2 in which the cope is held above the top surface of drags moved along by the conveyer but in which the fingers 117 are disposed for engagement by the drags. When a drag on the conveyor is moved under the lift and engages fingers 117, the lift, rack and bridge are moved as a unit with the conveyor along the tracks 12 and 14 which support the bridge. When this occurs, the operator again manually operates the hoist 76 to further lower the cope until it rests upon the drag. He then operates push button FBI to energize solenoid 176. Push button PB1 has a second normally closed contact PB2 which is opened when button P131 is closed, thereby de-energizing solenoid 180 and relay R1. As a result, the clamps are moved clear of the cope to release the same, and the air hoist is manually operated to raise the lift.

When the lift reaches its upper limit, a flange 202 on one of the angle members 68 of the lift engages and holds closed limit switch LS3 to energize

solenoids

166 and 148 through the normally closed contact Rlc of relay R1. Energization of solenoid 166 returns the rack to its rearward position over the roll-ofi rack, and energization of solenoid 148 admits under pressure to the rod ends of the bridge cylinders 36 to return the bridge to the Fig. 2 position. In this connection, it will be understood that when the moving drag engages the lift fingers 117 immediately prior to placing the cope on the drag, the bridge is moved to the left until the transfer is complete. Hence it is desirable to return the bridge to its righthand position shown in Fig. 2 prior to the next cycle so that the lift will register with the roll-off rack.

The lift has another limit switch LS4 operated by a cam 204 on the bridge 16. The cam is positioned to engage the switch in the rearward position of the rack 28 over the rol1-oif rack. As the lift moves down in this position, the portion 206 of the cam closes limit switch LS4 to energize solenoid 192, thereby lowering the cutter 120. The lift continues downwardly so that the lowered cutter enters the sprue passage in the sand and the motor 124 is simultaneously operated to form the pouring cup. The motor will be immediately started upon the admission of air pressure to the line 186 so that the cutter is rotating before it is lowered into the sprue passage. This action continues as the cope is clamped and initially raised, and the cutter motor is stopped and the cutter raised out of the formed pouring cup during upward movement of the lift by the contour of the cam opening limit switch LS4.

A manual start button PB3 is provided to condition the circuit for operation by energizing relay CR1, thereby closing the contacts CRla of the relay. Relay contact CRlb seals in a holding circuit to the relay, and R is a light to indicate that the circuit is ready for operation. A normally closed button PB4 is provided to de-energize relay CR1, to shut down the apparatus.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. Mechanism for transferring a cope flask from a support to a moving drag flask movable along a path spaced laterally from said support comprising a bridge, means supporting said bridge for movement from a normal position in the direction of movement of said drag flask, a rack supported on said bridge for movement between limits respectively overlying the path of said drag flask and said support in the normal position of said bridge, a vertically movable lift carried by said rack having means for gripping a cope flask, means for operating said gripping means when said rack is at one limit overlying said support to grip a cope flask on said support, means for raising said lift to raise the gripped cope flask, means for moving said rack to its other limit, means for moving said lift to a lower position at said other limit, means for releasing said gripping means in the lower position of said lift, means on said lift engageable with the drag flask in the lower position of said lift for moving said lift, rack and bridge as a unit with the drag flask with the gripped cope flask in register with the drag flask during the release of said gripping means, means for returning said bridge to its normal position, means for forming a pouring cup in the molded sand in the cope flask engaged by said gripping means including a cutter carried by said lift, and means controlled by the movement of said lift at said one limit for actuating said cutter.

2. Mechanism for removing a mold flask from a support and forming a pouring cup in the molded sand in the flask comprising a lift above said support, means for lowering and raising said lift toward and away from a lower position adjacent said support, said lift having means for gripping a mold flask on said support in its lower position to raise the flask'with said lift upon upand means controlled by the movement of said lift for actuating said cutter.

3. Mechanism for removing a mold flask from a support and forming a pouring cup in the molded sand in the flask comprising a lift above said support, means for lowering and raising said lift toward and away from a lower position adjacent said support, said lift having means for gripping a mold flask on said support in its lower position to raise the flask with said lift upon upward movement of the latter, a power operated cutter carried by said lift for forming a pouring cup in the molded sand in a flask engaged by said gripping means, and means for actuating said cutter.

4. Mechanism for removing a mold flask from a support and forming a pouring cup in the molded sand in the flask comprising a lift above said support, means for lowering and raising said lift toward and away from a lower position adjacent said support, said lift having means for gripping a mold flask on said support in its lower position to raise the flask with said lift upon upward movement of the latter, a power operated cutter carried by said lift for forming a pouring cup in the molded sand in a flask engaged by said gripping means, means operated by the movement of said lift to its lower position for actuating said gripping means to grip a flask on said support, and means controlled by the movement of said lift for actuating said cutter.

5. Mechanism for removing a mold flask from a support and at the same time forming a pouring cup in the molded sand in the flask comprising a lift above said support, means for lowering and raising said lift toward and away from a lower position adjacent said support, said lift having means for gripping a mold flask on said support in its lower position to raise the flask with said lift upon upward movement of the latter, a rotary cutter carried by said lift for forming a pouring cup in the molded sand in a flask, means responsive to the movement of said lift to its lower position for lowering said cutter relative to said lift to a position for forming a pouring cup in the molded sand of a flask gripped by said gripping means, and power means for rotating said cutter actuated in response to the movement of said lift to its lower position.

6. Mechanism as defined in claim 5 including means operated by the upward movement of said lift for raising said cutter clear of the sand in a gripped flask and for rendering said power means inoperative.

7. Mechanism for depositing a cope flask section on a moving drag flask section comprising a bridge, means supporting said bridge for reciprocation along the path of movement of the drag flask section to and from a normal position, a lift carried by said bridge for vertical movement, means for lowering and raising said lift relative to said bridge toward and away from a lower position adjacent the path of the drag flask section, means on said lift for gripping a cope flask section, abutment means on said lift engageable by the drag flask section in the lower position of said lift for movement of said lift and bridge from the normal position of said bridge by and as a unit with the drag flask section and with a cope flask section gripped by said gripping means in register with the drag flask section, means for releasing said gripping means during movement of said lift and bridge by the drag flask section to deposit the cope flask section on the drag flask section, and means for raising said lift to clear said abutment means of the flask sections and for then returning said bridge to its normal position following release of the cope flask section.

8. Mechanism for transferring a cope flask from a support to a moving drag flask movable along a path spaced laterally from said support comprising a bridge,

means supporting said bridge for reciprocation along the, path of movementof said drag flask to and from a normal position, a rank supported on said bridge for movement between limits respectively overlying the path of said drag flask and said support in the normal position of said bridge, a vertically movable lift carried by said rack having means for gripping a cope flask, means for operating said gripping means when said rack is at one limit overlying said support to grip a cope flask on said support, means for raising said lift to raise the gripped cope flask, means for moving said rack to its other limit, means for moving said lift to a lower position at said other limit, means for releasing said gripping means in the lower position of said lift, abutment means on said lift engageable with the drag flask in the lower position of said lift for moving said lift, rack and bridge away from 8n the. normal position of said bridge as a unit with the drag flask with the gripped cope flask in register with the drag flask dur ng the r lea ts i p n m a and means for ra sin sa if to de r i ab m a s of the flasks and for then returning said bridge to its normal position following release of said-gripping means.

References Cited in the file of this patent' UNITED STATES PATENTS 912,406 Patterson et a1. Feb. 16, 1909 2,575,103 Gavin Nov. 13, 1951 2,651,087 Fellows Sept. 8, 1953 2,701,399 Underwood et a1. Feb. 8, 1955 2,752,646 Lasater et a1. July 3, 1956 2,754,555 Young July 17, 1956